Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, January 17, 2025, is below. Other than Perplexity’s newly announced partnership with TripAdvisor (readers, please read the story below), this past week was relatively quiet as the industry (and the world) waits with anticipation (or for some, bated breath) for the soon arrival of the Trump administration. What changes might we see on Monday or in the weeks ahead remains to be seen. Many of the stories we’ve been following over the past weeks or even months – including a story or two featured in today’s Update - may soon disappear only to be replaced by entirely new and unexpected stories. Enjoy.
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- CWT and AmexGBT Merger Drama Continues. On the heals of the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent decision to file suit to block the planned merger, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced a delay in the delivery of its final decision regarding the proposed merger. According to the announcement, the CMA needs more time to review the 1500+ surveys of travel managers submitted by Amex GBT and CWT and to better define the appropriate “market” for considering the anti-competitive effects of the planned merger. The final decision is now not expected until March 9. In the meantime, Amex GBT has responded to the DOJ’s suit, arguing that the entire case (filed in the waning days of the Biden administration) was a “blatant politicized effort.” According to Amex GBT, the DOJ’s understanding of the current corporate travel market is flawed, arguing that the market has changed considerable in recent years with the entrance of corporate travel platforms, Navan, Kayak for Business and Spotnana and that the merger would actually be pro-competitive (citing the example of Amex GBT’s adoption of NDC). Whether the DOJ’s effort survives the upcoming presidential transition remains to be seen. Rumors suggest that UK and EU competition regulators may also soon scale back their competition efforts to gain favor with the incoming U.S. administration, which could affect the CMA’s efforts. More to come.
- TripAdvisor and Perplexity Announce Partnership. It was just last week that we identified Perplexity as one of the first generative AI platforms to feature paid advertising and encouraged readers to give consideration as to how their direct booking efforts (and contracts) may need to be updated to account for AI’s growing influence. This past week, Perplexity made industry headlines with its announced partnership with TripAdvisor. According to the announcement, TripAdvisor plans to share its data with Perplexity, including TripAdvisor’s listings (content, photos, etc.), links to hotels, restaurants and experiences and AI generated summaries of its billions of user reviews. With this robust industry data, Perplexity hopes to deliver better, more personalized responses to users’ travel queries. Where might this partnership ultimately lead? TripAdvisor hopes to use the sharing arrangement to ultimately drive bookings. For example, if TripAdvisor’s data is used to produce a response, the response may include TripAdvisor’s logo and a link to TripAdvisor’s page for booking (and necessarily away from the supplier’s own website). The partnership may also include TripAdvisor’s participation in Perplexity’s advertising program, which to date has not featured any travel company.
- CWT and AmexGBT Merger Drama Continues. On the heals of the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent decision to file suit to block the planned merger, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced a delay in the delivery of its final decision regarding the proposed merger. According to the announcement, the CMA needs more time to review the 1500+ surveys of travel managers submitted by Amex GBT and CWT and to better define the appropriate “market” for considering the anti-competitive effects of the planned merger. The final decision is now not expected until March 9. In the meantime, Amex GBT has responded to the DOJ’s suit, arguing that the entire case (filed in the waning days of the Biden administration) was a “blatant politicized effort.” According to Amex GBT, the DOJ’s understanding of the current corporate travel market is flawed, arguing that the market has changed considerable in recent years with the entrance of corporate travel platforms, Navan, Kayak for Business and Spotnana and that the merger would actually be pro-competitive (citing the example of Amex GBT’s adoption of NDC). Whether the DOJ’s effort survives the upcoming presidential transition remains to be seen. Rumors suggest that UK and EU competition regulators may also soon scale back their competition efforts to gain favor with the incoming U.S. administration, which could affect the CMA’s efforts. More to come.
Have a great week everyone. I look forward to seeing many of you at the upcoming HEDNA Conference in San Diego next week. Safe travels everyone.
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our first Online Travel Update for 2025 is below. The past two weeks produced a number of interesting stories, including the Department of Justice’s attempt to stop the planned Amex GBT / CWT merger, interesting predictions coming out of Skift’s recent Megatrends events and valuable reminders for anyone looking to make major changes to their loyalty program. Enjoy.
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- Megatrends Conferences Produce Interesting Headlines and Other Important Considerations. By now, most everyone has probably seen or read some of the predictions coming out of this past week’s Skift Megatrends conferences in New York and London. Thomas Reiner, a partner at Altimeter Capital, believes that online travel platforms face a daunting future (and for metasearch sites, possible outright extinction) with the advent of AI powered search. According to Thomas, the advent of AI powered search tools will allow travelers to bypass traditional travel platforms and go direct to hotels and other travel suppliers. Kayak CEO, Steve Hafner, raised similar concerns about the future of existing travel sites and apps, though Steve suggested that a “major travel company” like Airbnb or Booking.com could be a big benefactor of AI by becoming one of the first platforms to successfully integrate an AI engine. While’s Steve’s predictions about the likely effect of AI on traditional travel sites’ futures received most of the headlines, other comments by Steve during his presentation caught our attention. Specifically, Steve’s comment that Kayak was now making its “data” available to Google Gemini (Google’s AI tool) raised a number of questions. Steve’s comment combined with some recent discussions we’ve had with one of the largest online travel agents have caused us to begin re-examining our standard approaches with regard to IP licenses, confidentiality, privacy and data security and sales / marketing guidelines (e.g., SEO and SEM may soon fade away, but what comparable concepts will govern the use of AI tools and influence AI responses). For those of you wondering, paid advertisements are already a possibility on some AI platforms. This year may prove that AI and its effect and influence on travel was not just a bunch of hype. Stay tuned.
- UK Adopts ETA Requirements. So what, you ask? Unless you are traveling to the UK soon, why should you care about the recent adoption of new entry requirements for the UK? This past week, we were reminded that passport, visa and other entry requirements can have a huge effect on travelers’ plans. Nothing like booking that dream resort stay only to be denied access to your flight (or entrance to your destination) because of the failure to produce needed visas or other authorizations. What obligations do travel platforms – or by extension, supplier websites – have to inform users or travelers of these requirements (or changes to these requirements)? It is an interesting question with no clear, absolute answer. Disclaimers appear to work well and are often advised, but supplier websites rarely have the same set of robust booking terms and conditions found with travel platforms. It may be time to reconsider again your standard website terms and conditions or booking terms and conditions (if you have them).
- Megatrends Conferences Produce Interesting Headlines and Other Important Considerations. By now, most everyone has probably seen or read some of the predictions coming out of this past week’s Skift Megatrends conferences in New York and London. Thomas Reiner, a partner at Altimeter Capital, believes that online travel platforms face a daunting future (and for metasearch sites, possible outright extinction) with the advent of AI powered search. According to Thomas, the advent of AI powered search tools will allow travelers to bypass traditional travel platforms and go direct to hotels and other travel suppliers. Kayak CEO, Steve Hafner, raised similar concerns about the future of existing travel sites and apps, though Steve suggested that a “major travel company” like Airbnb or Booking.com could be a big benefactor of AI by becoming one of the first platforms to successfully integrate an AI engine. While’s Steve’s predictions about the likely effect of AI on traditional travel sites’ futures received most of the headlines, other comments by Steve during his presentation caught our attention. Specifically, Steve’s comment that Kayak was now making its “data” available to Google Gemini (Google’s AI tool) raised a number of questions. Steve’s comment combined with some recent discussions we’ve had with one of the largest online travel agents have caused us to begin re-examining our standard approaches with regard to IP licenses, confidentiality, privacy and data security and sales / marketing guidelines (e.g., SEO and SEM may soon fade away, but what comparable concepts will govern the use of AI tools and influence AI responses). For those of you wondering, paid advertisements are already a possibility on some AI platforms. This year may prove that AI and its effect and influence on travel was not just a bunch of hype. Stay tuned.
To those of you effected by this week’s horrible fires in Los Angeles, our thoughts and prayers are with you. Have a good week and be safe.
Good Sunday morning and Happy New Year!! We are again providing a roundup of a few of the stories that we feel made the biggest impact in the online travel industry over this past year (and continuing into this year). Wishing all our readers a great 2025.
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About the Editor
Greg Duff founded and chairs Foster Garvey’s national Hospitality, Travel & Tourism group. His practice largely focuses on operations-oriented matters faced by hospitality industry members, including sales and marketing, distribution and e-commerce, procurement and technology. Greg also serves as counsel and legal advisor to many of the hospitality industry’s associations and trade groups, including AH&LA, HFTP and HSMAI.
